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California avocados are dropping from the trees because of triple digit temperatures that have been common since early July....Meanwhile, imports of Chilean mandarins have increased nearly five-fold during the past six years. Read full story →

Historically, the produce industry gives truck transportation and trucking rates little thought, unless they are having a problem getting their product loaded, or rates are on the rise. Well, both are happening. Read full story →

Posts Tagged “Washington state apples”

There are a lot more apples remaining to be shipped in the U.S. compared to this time last year, thanks mostly to Washington state.

New York Apple Shipments

New York state’s apple shippers expect apple supplies for the Christmas and New Year holidays to be good with good quality, variety selection and quantity.

The Empire State had 11.5 million bushels in storage for shipping on November. 1st. The U.S. Apple Association’s monthly Market News reported ample supplies remain of best known and most popular New York varieties, including Empire and McIntosh, as well as consumer favorite Gala, as well as Rome and Idared. The preseason forecast saw a crop amounting 28 million bushels.

While more over 50 percent of the New York crop has been shipped, apple shippers contend there will be good supplies to meet year-end holiday demand.

More U.S. Apples Remain in Storage

As of December 1st, more apples in the U.S. for the fresh market remained to be shipped than at this same time last year — 9 percent more to be precise.

The U.S. Apple Association’s report for December observes apples remaining to be shipped are 16 percent more than the five-year average.

Apples for processing remaining in storage totaled 51.5 million (bushel) cartons, 20 percent more than last year and a whopping 21 percent above the five-year average.

At 115.97 million cartons, Washington state apples alone accounted for 88 percent of the entire U.S. fresh apple remaining to be shipped. Michigan accounted for 3 percent remained to be shipped, while New York state has 5 percent.

Variety count

The report said U.S. fresh varieties in storage on December 1st, compared with last year at the same time, were:

Red delicious: 31.52 million cartons, down 11 percent;

Gala: 24.77 million cartons, up 8 percent;

Honeycrisp: 8.7 million cartons, up 56 percent;

Granny smith: 16.69 million cartons, up 38 percent:

Fuji: 15.08 million cartons, up 12 percent;

Pink Lady/cripps pink: 4.952 million cartons, down 9 percent.

Yakima Valley Washington apples – grossing about $7900 to New York City.

Fresh fruits and vegetables play a big role in the record setting containerized cargo arrivals at Port Everglades… Meanwhile, Washington apple loadings are down compared to September of last year.

By Port Everglades

Fresh produce imports played a major role in Port Everglades (Fla.), setting a record for containerized cargo volumes with 1.077 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in fiscal year 2017.

That’s a 4 percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year totals and 1.5 percent over the previous record, set in fiscal year 2015. The port’s fiscal year ended September 30th, according to a news release.

“The volumes of refrigerated produce coming into Florida through Port Everglades from Central America is significant,” Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director Steve Cernak said. “It represents more than half of all perishable cargo that arrives in Florida by ocean.”

Apparel, tile, beverages, machinery and automobile parts are also significant categories imported through the port.

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Apple Shipments

Apple shipments, as well as volumes and sales were off this season at retail compared to a year ago in September due to a harvest gap, according to data compiled from Nielsen Fresh Facts.

Washington state apples had a record early harvest start last year, and started about 10 days later than normal this year, causing the lag at retail. according to a news release from Stemilt Growes, based in Wenatchee WA.

Volume, sales and shipments should pick up soon as harvests conclude and retailers have big enough supplies to offer ad specials on apples.

Apples were 5.9 percent of total produce department sales in September, compared with 6.5 percent last year.

Gala, red delicious, fuji, Honeycrisp and granny smith were the top five varieties, and club variety Sweetango cracked the top 10.

The average September retail price for all varieties was $1.66, and nearly 66 percent of sales were in bulk. Two-thirds of bagged apple sales in September were 3-pound bags.

June 1st the amount of fresh granny smiths remaining in storage stood at 2.12 million cartons, down a whopping 54 percent from the same time last year and 45 percent from two years ago. Meanwhile, other U.S. fresh market apples being held in storage on June 1st were up 12 percent over year-ago levels and 5 percent greater than the five-year average, according to the last monthly report from the U.S. Apple Association this season.

The granny smith volume in the U.S. was short from the start of the crop year, but the gap compared with last year was not as far. The first storage report of the season from U.S. Apple, issued on November 1st, showed there were 13.78 million cartons of granny smiths to be hauled, off 12 percent from the 2015 November 1 figure.

The apple industry had shipped about 85 percent of the granny crop by early June, compared with 73 percent shipped at the same time last year.

New crop granny smith is expected to get underway around October 1st.

California granny smith loadings will begin by mid- to late August. In the 2015-16 season, California shipped about 443,000 cartons of granny smith apple, about 25 pecent of the state’s total fresh apple shipments.

Chilean packers are pretty much finishing up granny smith apples now, with sporadic controlled atmosphere rooms expected to open as late as July or early August. Some Chilean granny smith shipments have experienced bruising and bitter pit issues this year.

Total fresh U.S. apples remaining in storage as of June 1st was 25.4 million cartons, 12 percent above the same time a year ago but 15 percent lower than two years ago. The U.S. Apple Association plans to release the 2017-18 crop estimate August 25th, and the first storage report for that crop will be issued in early November.

Washington state apples accounted for 24.03 million cartons (95 percent) of total U.S. fresh apple holdings on June 1st.

Apple shipments continue to be one of the best bets for produce haulers this time of the year, but with the huge amount of product remaining in storage could present some problems when it comes to claims.

About 3 million boxes of apples are being shipped weekly, mostly from Washington state, but so much fruit remains, there are rumblings of how well some apples are holding up in storage. One problem cited is with shrinkage, particularly with the Honeycrisp variety, as well as with the smaller sized fruit sold in club stores in larger sized bags. Additionally, there have been reports of problems with some Fuji apples. Some are lacking full color, but more importantly is the problem of the fruit showing decay.

It is reported some of the poorest quality apples are being dumped, along with some sizes and grades that marketers are unable to sell. Still, just use extra caution when picking up a load.

As of February 1st, there were about 95 million bushels of domestic apples for the fresh market remaining to be shipped. That is a whopping 24 percent more than a year ago. The total for February also is an astounding 35 percent greater than the five-year average.

Washington state apples account for about 84 million of the 95 million bushels of the fruit still in storage. Michigan apples accounts for about 3.9 million, while New York apple shippers have 3.8 million and Pennsylvania about 1 million bushels.

There also are concerns among some shippers with the arrival of March when southern hemisphere apples begin arriving, will it hurt sales and shipments. Imported apples often cost more, but that could become secondary to apple buyers (such as retailers) if the domestic fruit is coming out of storages with quality issues.

Washington state cherries and sweet onions will be available for loading in the coming weeks.

Cherry Shipments

It is more than two weeks away, but there should be plenty of loading opportunities with the arrival of near record Northwest cherry shipments. Northwest cherries, that is led by Washington state, but also includes Oregon, will start shipping in early June, with decent volume coming in late June for the Fourth of July. Estimates call for over 20 million boxes to be shipped this season, and possibly rival the record crop of 23 million boxes in 2012. Last year, the region shipped only 14.3 million boxes. The shipments this season will be the earliest start in four to five years.

Northwest cherry shippers expect to load 7 million boxes in June. Peak loadings will occur in July when 12 to 13 million boxes are expected to be shipped. In August, cherry loadings should hit 2 to 3 million boxes to end the season.

Walla Walla Onion Shipments

Temperatures were warming up in the Walla Walla River Valley during April and that is good news for owner operators, small fleet owners and otherswho annually haul Walla Wala onions, grown on about 600 acres.

Volume is forecast to be normal from the area, which usually ships around 1,000 40-pound units per acre. That translates into around 600,00 cartons being loaded each season. Shipments should get underway towards the end of June and run through mid-August.

Yakima Valley apples and pears – grossing about $7,000 to New York City.

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California avocados are dropping from the trees because of triple digit temperatures that have been common since early July....Meanwhile, imports of Chilean mandarins have increased nearly five-fold during the past six years. Read full story →

Historically, the produce industry gives truck transportation and trucking rates little thought, unless they are having a problem getting their product loaded, or rates are on the rise. Well, both are happening. Read full story →